were spent on a dairy farm in nearby Eumundi. Life was hard early on. At the age of five he contracted rheumatic fever, damaging his heart and undergoing two aortic valve replacements. When he was only eleven, his father died and, amidst financial difficulty, the family had to leave the farm. Rudd recalls camping in the family car as they had nowhere to live.
Despite a Country Party background in the family, Rudd joined the Labor Party at the age of fifteen in 1972. He boarded at Marist College Ashgrove in Brisbane where he was regarded as a âcharity caseâ, owing to the death of his father and family poverty. Rudd has recalled those school years as unhappy, describing the school as âtough, harsh, unforgiving institutional Catholicism of the old schoolâ. He later became an Anglican. When his mother had managed to train and qualify as a nurse, the family moved to Nambour and
Kevin Rudd attended the local state high school, where he was dux in 1974.
Rudd recalls that it was the Whitlam victory that enabled someone from his country background, with no particular means, to go to university. He studied at the Australian National University in Canberra and graduated with first-class honours, having majored in Chinese language and history. He met his wife, Thérèse Rein, who was also studying at ANU, and they married in 1981 and have three children. Thérèse Rein became the first prime ministerâs wife to continue working while her husband was in office. She was the founder of a worldwide employment and business services company.
Rudd had joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1981, spending much of the decade ahead overseas, including in Beijing. He quit the department in 1988 to return to Queensland where he became chief-of-staff to the then State opposition leader, and later Labor premier, Wayne Goss. The Goss government lost office in 1996 and Rudd went to work for accounting giant KPMG as a senior China consultant. In the same year he stood for Labor in the federal election and lost, but won the seat of Griffith in the election John Howard called in 1998 and held it until he resigned after his defeat in 2013.
In parliament, Rudd came to attention early and within three years was appointed shadow minister forforeign affairs. Labor in opposition saw several leaders come and go and pressure was growing on Rudd to step forward as polling showed Laborâs vote would double with him as leader. In December 2006, leader Kim Beazley called a leadership election and Rudd was elected with 49 votes to Beazleyâs 39. Julia Gillard was elected unopposed as deputy leader. Rudd set about building his already-high public profile. He had used appearances on morning TV breakfast shows as part of a strategy to make himself popular, informal and even folksy. He tapped into dissatisfaction with the Howard governmentâs stand on industrial relations and proved popular with his announcments on climate change, education, manufacturing and other key policies.
By the time John Howard called an election for 24 November 2007, Rudd managed a âRuddslideâ, with an enormous 7.52 per cent swing in his home state of Queensland and a swing overall of 5.44 per cent nationally. Rudd became the first prime minister to make no mention of the monarch when being sworn in by the governor-general. He broke over a century of tradition by announcing ministerial portfolios instead of receiving them from the partyâs caucus. He moved quickly to sign the Kyoto Protocol on emmissions reductions, and led the Parliamentary Apology to the Stolen Generations.
Behind the scenes his enemies talked of his zealous control mentality and his obsessive attention to detail and procedure. Rudd, in opposition and in government, had made the environment and in particular emissions trading a cornestone of his tenure. His watering down of the policy came as an enormous backdown and colleagues attacked him for not consulting.
Despite a Country Party background in the family, Rudd joined the Labor Party at the age of fifteen in 1972. He boarded at Marist College Ashgrove in Brisbane where he was regarded as a âcharity caseâ, owing to the death of his father and family poverty. Rudd has recalled those school years as unhappy, describing the school as âtough, harsh, unforgiving institutional Catholicism of the old schoolâ. He later became an Anglican. When his mother had managed to train and qualify as a nurse, the family moved to Nambour and
Kevin Rudd attended the local state high school, where he was dux in 1974.
Rudd recalls that it was the Whitlam victory that enabled someone from his country background, with no particular means, to go to university. He studied at the Australian National University in Canberra and graduated with first-class honours, having majored in Chinese language and history. He met his wife, Thérèse Rein, who was also studying at ANU, and they married in 1981 and have three children. Thérèse Rein became the first prime ministerâs wife to continue working while her husband was in office. She was the founder of a worldwide employment and business services company.
Rudd had joined the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1981, spending much of the decade ahead overseas, including in Beijing. He quit the department in 1988 to return to Queensland where he became chief-of-staff to the then State opposition leader, and later Labor premier, Wayne Goss. The Goss government lost office in 1996 and Rudd went to work for accounting giant KPMG as a senior China consultant. In the same year he stood for Labor in the federal election and lost, but won the seat of Griffith in the election John Howard called in 1998 and held it until he resigned after his defeat in 2013.
In parliament, Rudd came to attention early and within three years was appointed shadow minister forforeign affairs. Labor in opposition saw several leaders come and go and pressure was growing on Rudd to step forward as polling showed Laborâs vote would double with him as leader. In December 2006, leader Kim Beazley called a leadership election and Rudd was elected with 49 votes to Beazleyâs 39. Julia Gillard was elected unopposed as deputy leader. Rudd set about building his already-high public profile. He had used appearances on morning TV breakfast shows as part of a strategy to make himself popular, informal and even folksy. He tapped into dissatisfaction with the Howard governmentâs stand on industrial relations and proved popular with his announcments on climate change, education, manufacturing and other key policies.
By the time John Howard called an election for 24 November 2007, Rudd managed a âRuddslideâ, with an enormous 7.52 per cent swing in his home state of Queensland and a swing overall of 5.44 per cent nationally. Rudd became the first prime minister to make no mention of the monarch when being sworn in by the governor-general. He broke over a century of tradition by announcing ministerial portfolios instead of receiving them from the partyâs caucus. He moved quickly to sign the Kyoto Protocol on emmissions reductions, and led the Parliamentary Apology to the Stolen Generations.
Behind the scenes his enemies talked of his zealous control mentality and his obsessive attention to detail and procedure. Rudd, in opposition and in government, had made the environment and in particular emissions trading a cornestone of his tenure. His watering down of the policy came as an enormous backdown and colleagues attacked him for not consulting.
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